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Yet always wishing to retreat,
O, could I see my country-seat!
There leaning near a gentle brook,
Sleep, or peruse some ancient book;

And there in sweet oblivion drown

Those cares that haunt the court and town.1

HORACE, BOOK II. ODE I. PARAPHRASED.

ADDRESSED TO RICHARD STEELE, ESQ.

1714.

DICK, thou'rt resolved, as I am told,
Some strange arcana to unfold,

And with the help of Buckley's' pen,
the good old cause again :

To vamp

Which thou (such Burnet's shrewd advice is) Must furbish up, and nickname Crisis.

Thou pompously wilt let us know

What all the world knew long ago,

(E'er since Sir William Gore was mayor,
And Harley fill'd the commons' chair,)
That we a German prince must own,
When Anne for Heaven resigns her throne.

Thus far was translated by Dr. Swift in 1714. The remaining part of the satire was afterwards added by Mr. Pope; in whose works the whole is printed. See Dr. Warton's edition, vol. vi. p. 13.

2 Samuel Buckley, publisher of the Crisis.

But, more than that, thou'lt keep a rout,
With-who is in-and who is out;
Thou'lt rail devoutly at the peace,
And all its secret causes trace,

The bucket-play 'twixt Whigs and Tories,
Their ups and downs, with fifty stories
Of tricks the Lord of Oxford knows,
And errors of our plenipoes.
Thou'lt tell of leagues among the great,
Portending ruin to our state:

And of that dreadful coup d'éclat,
Which has afforded thee much chat.
The queen, forsooth! (despotic,) gave
Twelve coronets without thy leave!
A breach of liberty, 'tis own'd,
For which no heads have yet atoned!
Believe me, what thou'st undertaken
May bring in jeopardy thy bacon;
For madmen, children, wits, and fools,
Should never meddle with edged tools.
But, since thou'st got into the fire,
And canst not easily retire,

Thou must no longer deal in farce,

Nor pump to cobble wicked verse;

Until thou shalt have eased thy conscience,
Of spleen, of politics, and nonsense;
And, when thou'st bid adieu to cares,
And settled Europe's grand affairs,
"Twill then, perhaps, be worth thy while
For Drury-Lane to shape thy style:

"To make a pair of jolly fellows,
The son and father, join to tell us,
How sons may safely disobey,
And fathers never should say nay;

By which wise conduct they grow friends
At last-and so the story ends."

"1

When first I knew thee, Dick, thou wert
Renown'd for skill in Faustus' art; 2
Which made thy closet much frequented
By buxom lasses-some repented
Their luckless choice of husbands--others,
Impatient to be like their mothers,
Received from thee profound directions
How best to settle their affections.
Thus thou, a friend to the distress'd,
Didst in thy calling do thy best.

But now the senate (if things hit,
And thou at Stockbridge3 wert not bit)
Must feel thy eloquence and fire,
Approve thy schemes, thy wit admire,
Thee with immortal honours crown,
While, patriot-like, thou'lt strut and frown.

This is said to be a plot of a comedy with which Mr. Steele has long threatened the town.---Swift.

2 Not alluding, as I conceive, to Steele's researches in alchemy, but to his assumed character of Squire Bickerstaff, a conjuror, whose advice to various distressed females may be seen in the Tatler, and is ridiculed in the lines which follow.---Scott.

3 The borough which, for a very short time, Steele represented in Parliament.---Ibid.

What though by enemies 'tis said,
The laurel, which adorns thy head,
Must one day come in competition,
By virtue of some sly petition:

Yet mum for that; hope still the best,
Nor let such cares disturb thy rest.

Methinks I hear thee loud as trumpet,
As bagpipe shrill or oyster-strumpet;
Methinks I see thee, spruce and fine,
With coat embroider'd richly shine,
And dazzle all the idol faces,

As through the hall thy worship paces;
(Though this I speak but at a venture,
Supposing thou hast tick with Hunter,)
Methinks I see a blackguard rout
Attend thy coach, and hear them shout
In approbation of thy tongue,

Which (in their style) is purely hung.
Now! now you carry all before you!
Nor dares one Jacobite or Tory
Pretend to answer one syl-lable,

Except the matchless hero Abel.1

What though her highness and her spouse,

2

In Antwerp keep a frugal house,

Yet, not forgetful of a friend,
They'll soon enable thee to spend,

1 Abel Roper, a blackguard Tory bookseller.-Scott. 2 The Duke and Duchess of Marlborough then resided at Antwerp.---Ibid.

If to Macartney thou wilt toast,
And to his pious patron's ghost.
Now, manfully thou'lt run a tilt

"On popes, for all the blood they've spilt,
For massacres, and racks, and flames,
For lands enrich'd by crimson streams,
For inquisitions taught by Spain,
Of which the Christian world complain."
Dick, we agree-all's true thou'st said,
As that my Muse is yet a maid.
But, if I may with freedom talk,
All this is foreign to thy walk:
Thy genius has perhaps a knack
At trudging in a beaten track,
But is for state affairs as fit
As mine for politics and wit.
Then let us both in time grow wise,

Nor higher than our talents rise;
To some snug cellar let's repair,

From duns and debts, and drown our care;
Now quaff of honest ale a quart,

Now venture at a pint of port;

With which inspired, we'll club each night

Some tender sonnet to indite,

And with Tom D'Urfey, Phillips, Dennis,

Immortalize our Dolls and Jennys.

General Macartney, second to Lord Mohun, in the fatal duel with the Duke of Hamilton.

VOL. III.

F

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